I don't think he's expecting to crash. The OP mentioned :

"Something on the cheap that I won't be upset about if I ruined it in a crash. I want to 'try' some local racing, but don't want to put an expensive/nice bike at-risk for a crash. If I like it and continue, then maybe over the winter I'll build/buy something else."

It makes sense to me. When I started racing, I raced on my beater road bike because I felt more comfortable on it. Now my primary race bike is worth more then my car (the bike's not that great, it's just that my car is a real POS.)